Passenger car sales grew highest in last 6 years

Passenger car sales in India has increased at the fastest rate in last six years, as newly launched cars have catapulted the demand in the industry. Car sales jumped to 1.53 million units, accounted for a sales increase of 25 percent as compare to the previous year, as per the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Sales of vehicles including vans, SUVs and trucks, jumped by 28 percent to 2.48 million vehicles. Car makers including Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors launched more then half a dozen vehicles in total in India in the month of January this year

According to Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker, the raising interest rates affects auto sales as almost 80% cars are bought on credit. Maruti India recently crossed the benchmark figure of selling 10 lakh cars in a financial year.

While at the same time the sales of Fiat India, jumped by more then 200% last year to 24,806. It was the fastest- growing car maker in India. Among top 16 car makers, the only car maker which registered a decrease in sales was Renault's joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

The automobile industry in India registered a growth of 20.1 percent in the month of March, as against the sales in the same period of last year. As the prices of the cars were due for hiking in the month of March customers advanced their purchases ahead of the price hikes, but now as cars in India have become costlier, it is expected that sales of the month of April will come down to a certain extent.

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